


Idolon

by KuraNova



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: After Dark World, Angst, Chill XV, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hauntings, Humor, M/M, Vignette, ghost!Noct
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-09-02
Packaged: 2018-12-19 22:19:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11907357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KuraNova/pseuds/KuraNova
Summary: "I’m pretty sure I’m living with my best friend’s ghost, and no, I’m not being over dramatic or anything. Sometimes weird things happen to me, or around my house, and at first I guess I just chalked them up to me forgetting to put something somewhere, or being clumsy. But then I figured out that the stuff that was going on, well, it reminded me a lot of Noctis."A story told in vignettes about Prompto living out his life after Noctis' sacrifice. He's not as alone as he thinks he is.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all!  
> Another Promptis fic! This is a feel food piece despite some of the themes of loss. Warnings will be issued per vignette, so keep an eye out for those.  
> And last, but not least, THANK YOU to all of my regulars and all of my newcomers. :D I hope you all enjoy the story.

A u d i o  L o g

P o s t  D a t e d :   M . E .  7 6 6  A u g u s t  2 7 t h

 

I’m pretty sure I’m living with my best friend’s ghost, and no, I’m not being over dramatic or anything. Sometimes weird things happen to me, or around my house, and at first I guess I just chalked them up to me forgetting to put something somewhere, or being clumsy. But then I figured out that the stuff that was going on, well, it reminded me a lot of Noctis.

This all started right after I moved to a new place in Lestallum after the sun came back. I didn’t want to stay in Insomnia with Iggy and Gladio. Everything just felt too … complicated I guess. Noct had just … passed on, you know? And even though we were never what I wanted us to be, we were still best friends. He was my brother, and losing him had just kinda sent me into flight mode, so I got as far away as I could as fast as I could. I got a job for Exineris checking the power lines in Cleigne, which suited me just fine. I’m an active guy by nature, and sitting around in some stuffy shop or at a desk has never appealed to me. Besides, the physical activity was good to help forget - or try to.

The stuff I’ve been through? It’ll stay with me forever.

But I’m getting kind of sidetracked. Sorry. Anyway, it was about a week after I moved into my new place. All of my stuff was still in boxes, all three of them, and I had decided to make a quick stir fry out of the leftover veggies in my fridge before they went bad. I was standing at the counter, chopping up the last chunk of broccoli, when the doorbell rang.

I didn’t think anything of it at the time. I ordered stuff online a lot. Being out of town most of the month doesn’t make grocery shopping easy or anything, but I couldn’t remember what I’d purchased lately that would be showing up after nine p.m. on a Sunday. Still, I walked down the short hallway and took a look out of the peephole, expecting to see a delivery guy walking away or something.

The porch was empty, though, and the sidewalk I could manage to see.

I pulled open the door, looking down and expecting to see a package of some kind, but nothing was there, either. I figured whoever it was had the wrong house, shrugged, and closed the door, wandering back to the kitchen.

I remember coming up short when I saw the cutting board, and the broccoli, on the floor halfway across the room. Little bits of green were scattered everywhere over the wooden floor. I didn’t remember hearing anything when I was at the door. There was no crash or anything. I guess I could have brushed it on my way out, and maybe I knocked it over without realizing, but how all of that mess almost made it to the garbage can, I thought I’d never be able to figure out.


	2. Chapter 2

A u d i o  L o g

M . E .  7 6 6  S e p t e m b e r  1 s t

 

I decided to keep an audio log of all of this stuff going on. It was actually Ignis who told me I  should do it. Helps in coping with losing someone important, I guess. I just wonder why he decided to mention it now. I've been dealing with loss for the last ten years and talking about it has never helped. Dunno how speaking into a recorder is going to suddenly make losing Noctis easier to deal with but -

_ Sigh _

I'll do it for Iggy. He's got enough shit to deal with anyway. 

But the point of all this: some weird shit is starting to happen to me. There was this freaky incident with some broccoli - about as weird as it sounds, honestly. I think I'll record that vlog next, just to keep things on a sort of timeline. 

Anyway, broccoli, moving on its own. Weird. Shit. But the next day. Monday morning? My alarm didn't go off. Damn thing was unplugged from the wall and I know I set it the night before and it worked just fine. On Wednesday, the veggie thing got upgraded. This time my tomatoes got set on fire because they were suddenly inside the stove burner. I did not put them there. The thing was lit. 

And not in the totally awesome kind of way! 

_ Mumble _

Took me an hour to scrub that drip pan clean. 

Today I started to seriously consider the source of this stuff, though. I don't think I wanted to admit it before, out of like, some bizarro desire to keep Noctis around - at least in my head. I don’t want people to get the wrong idea about me, or think I need help or something. I don’t. ...  but everything going on just reminds me of him. 

You know, the vegetables, the alarm clock, and now this. I just … it seems to specific you know? And correct me if I’m wrong okay, but last I checked most ghosts don’t try to scare food or try to help people sleep in.

That seems like Noct … right? I’m not crazy.

Couple hours ago, on my lunch break, I decided to take a break at this one haven overlooking the river here in Cleigne. We - Iggy, Gladio, Noct and I - used to camp here a lot back when we were running hunts out of Old Lestallum. We actually got trapped here once by three iron giants. That was a sleepless night for sure. 

Anyway, I was sitting on the edge of the haven looking out over the clearing where a herd of spiracorns used to graze, and I started thinking about how it would be fun to come back here, Iggy and Gladio and I. And of course I started thinking about Noctis. When do I stop thinking about, Noctis?

_ Nervous laugh _

Would be nice, I think, for him to actually see what he did for all of us. How he saved us.

How he saved me.

I was getting kind of depressed about it, in fact, getting that tightness in my chest that always comes before the waterworks. I remember saying something stupid, bout missing Noctis and wishing he was around. I know it’s impossible, but I can wish it all the same.

That’s when everything got cold. The sun was shining overhead, the norm in Duscae, and the afternoon temperature was balmy so the sudden, harsh blast of cold air surprised me. Actually, it reminded me a lot of the feeling I used to get when creeping up on a mindflayer. I jumped to my feet, and sort of panicked as I looked around, convinced there was a daemon nearby even though there hadn’t been any sightings in weeks.

There was nothing around me - just the same sunny hillside on a quiet afternoon. 

The next blast of cold air actually blew my hair back from my face. It kind of twisted, I guess? Went around my neck and down my arm and just kind of stayed there. It’s kind of strange, and probably stupid but … even though my fingers were going numb, I swear it felt like I was holding Noctis’ hand.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A belated birthday memorial.

A u d i o   L o g

M . E .   7 6 6   S e p t e m b e r   2 n d

 

I tried to ignore Noctis’ birthday this year. For some reason I thought it would show how far I’ve come in getting over his death if I could just go through my life without thinking about it or wishing he was around.

_Sigh_

I made it two days. Well, actually zero because I was thinking about him the whole time. He would have been 31, you know. If things had gone down differently. He’d be the King of Lucis, might be married, have kids. I wonder what they would look like.

_Laugh_

They’d probably be spoiled little shits, just like him.

Night of the first I was laying in bed and realized that trying to make the memory of Noctis fade into the background of my life wasn’t something I actually wanted. He was a big part of it, you know? He was my best friend, and I loved him more than anyone or anything else. And without him I … shit. I really don’t know where I’d be. And what'd happened earlier on my lunch break just got me thinking. I'm not really sure about what, 'cept that it was about Noct.

And I thought to myself that kind of life deserved a celebration. But something small, right? Went out the next morning to get the ingredients for a cake, like one of those box mixes. If I’d have called Ignis for a homemade recipe he’d have asked what the occasion was and I really can’t lie for shit.

They didn’t have anything but the funfetti stuff left, you know, the white cake mix with the little bits of multicolored who knows what sprinkled in the batter. Guess even during ten years of darkness no one wanted to eat it. It was just as well, though I did feel a little guilty about taking the mix. Supplies were still tight despite the daylight returning.

Anyway, I got home today and I baked the cake as well as I could. I’m not a baker or anything, I’m barely even a passable cook when it comes down to it, which is probably why the center of the cake kind of collapsed in on itself when I’d set it out to cool. The frosting I threw together pooled in the center like some kind of off-white swamp, and altogether the texture of the cake barely served to hold up the thirty-one candles I’d managed to scrounge up from a few different stores around town.

I walked the cake over to my dining room table, trying not to slosh the frosting as I set it down. It felt like one of those moments you hear about in stories, you know, when I started lighting the candles. Like there was something in that moment that required a kind of reverence, I guess. I just kind of sank into one of the chairs at the table and stared at the tiny flames of the candles, dancing back and forth in front of me.

I guess that’s when I felt the _realness_ of it all again - that Noctis was gone. The candles all blurred together then, and my vision swam, and I promised myself I wasn’t going to cry about it again so I hid my face in my arms to keep everything in. I wished him a happy birthday in a voice I’m sure no one could hear, given how bad I was shaking, pressing my eyes into my arm and listening to the hiss of wax melting off the candles.

I freaked out when I woke up. For two reasons, actually. One was because I, stupidly, fell asleep next to a small open fire.

My hair gel is flammable, you know.

The other was because none of the candles had burned down. In fact, most of them were just a little shorter than they’d been when I’d taken them out of their boxes. Given how long I’d fallen asleep, they all _should_ have been little stubs burned into the frosting. I looked around then, not very well, but I knew there weren’t any windows open to put those candles out.

I thought maybe it could be, with everything going on, maybe it _could_ be. And the chance to find out was too much of a temptation.

Right about then is where I’m pretty sure I started to go kinda crazy.

I called his name - just out into the emptiness of my house. I’m not really sure if I was expecting an answer or not, but I didn’t get one.

**Author's Note:**

> I want to thank those on the Chill XV discord for encouraging me to take a stab at this fic. If you'd like to see what we're about (dick jokes, mostly), you can find us here: https://discord.gg/u47BC7X


End file.
